How do I count thee? Let me rue the ways...

One of the things that I think about a great deal is...
"how much are we biased by base-10?" I mean, if you're
looking for meaning in the decimal expansion of π (which I
wouldn't really suggest you waste much time on), then you're
counting on two (improbable) things:

there is meaning there

base-10 will illuminate, rather
than obscure, that meaning

If you only ever play with base-10, then you'll
think that 1/3 is much messier than 1/2. But, if
you instead play in base 3, you'll find it's quite
the opposite.

As another example, I've encoded two small text messages
below. For both of the messages I started with the simple
encoding: 0 = space, 1 = A, 2 = B, ... 26 = Z. I used no
punctuation. Then, all I did was represent the numbers in
different bases. With a little deduction, you may be able to
figure it out. But, the second one is a great deal harder.

121120212122000120211122000111100110110100120112201

1614185110916801216169615175

It goes much deeper than just the numbering system, too.
Think about our units of measure. I cannot come up with
even one example of a continuous metric that has a well-founded,
universal basis. I can come up with some discrete metrics: three
antelope is three antelope no matter how bright it is
outside, six-hundred protons is six-hundred protons no matter
what the barometric pressure, zero corn cobs is zero corn
cobs no matter what the temperature is.

Our units of measure are so incestuous they'd
make Jerry Springer blush.

How long is a meter? Well, light travels 299,792,458
of them per second. Why 299,792,458? What's a second?
It's the *expected* length of time it takes the cesium 133 atom
(when exposed to suitable excitation) to complete 9,192,631,770
oscillations. Expected? Why Cesium 133? What's suitable
excitation? Why 9,192,631,770?

At what temperature does water boil? It depends on the
barometric pressure. How do I measure the barometric pressure?
In millimeters of mercury. What's a millimeter? Why mercury?

How much heat does it take to make water boil? It takes
540 calories per gram. What's a calorie? It's the amount of
heat required to raise one gram of water one degree Celsius.
How much is a gram of water? A gram of water is one cubic
centimeter of water at four degrees Celsius. What's a centimeter?
See above. How much is a degree Celsius? Well, zero degrees
Celsius is when water freezes and one-hundred degrees Celsius
is when water boils (all of that is assuming that you're at
standard pressure). What's standard pressure? It's 760 mm of
mercury (see above).

I was thinking for a moment that we could define a meter in
terms of the radius of a non-accelerating hydrogen atom in a
vacuum with no electromagnetic or gravitational forces acting
on it. But, then I realized that Quantum Mechanics says that
at-best such a hydrogen atom has an expected radius. Wheee...

All of this got me to wondering, is a Planck-length
universal? And, if it is, can it be used to measure
( space or time ) or can it only be used to measure
( space-time )?